Moody's downgrades US debt to AA1, citing rising interest costs and unsustainable debt growth

Moody's Ratings agency downgraded the US's sovereign debt credit rating after the market close on Friday. According to Moody's, the US is facing rising debt funding costs that far exceed those of similar government debt loads. Moody's specifically highlighted US interest obligations "that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns".

Moody's has lost faith that the US government will be able to make and execute multi-year reduction plans for reducing its deficits and debt and stating, "Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs."

Key highlights

United States ratings cut to Aa1 from AAA.

The US' long-term local and foreign-currency country ceilings remain at AAA.

We do not expect that the US' long-term growth will be significantly affected by tariffs.

We recognize the US' significant economic & financial strengths, and believe these no longer fully counterbalance decline in fiscal metrics.

We anticipate US' Federal debt burden will rise to about 134% of GDP by 2035, compared to 98% in 2024.